Although the relevant radiation protection legislation, IRMER17 and IRR17, has not changed, the Practice Support Manual Radiation Protection topic has been amended to be more consistent with the second edition of the “Guidance Notes for Dental Practitioners on the Safe Use of X-ray equipment” (accessible via the College of General Dentistry website).
The amendments to the PSM topic are mostly minor clarifications and are unlikely to require significant change to practice.
Topic areas where details have been clarified include:
- The requirement to rehearse contingency plans (Controlling Exposure of Staff and Other People)
- Requirements for personal dose monitoring (Radiation Protection File)
- Demarcating the designated controlled areas (Controlling Exposure of Staff and Other People)
- Assessing the transmitted or scattered radiation at boundaries of controlled areas (Controlling Exposure of Staff and Other People)
- Disposal of old x-ray equipment (Disposal of old x-ray equipment)
- Retention timescales for records, including for incidents and investigations (Incidents and Accidents) (Requirements Within the Practice)
- The requirement for additional training for those using CBCT (Training)
- Quality assurance of clinical image quality (Quality Assurance)
Some radiation protection templates and checklists have been amended accordingly. The dates that templates were first provided vary but all the templates provided remain valid. For those dated 2019, only the format has been updated. For those dated 2022 onwards, both content and format have been amended.
The additional resources for radiation protection provided via the SDCEP website, including the example Employer’s Procedures and Protocols and the guide to radiation protection for the Combined Practice Inspection, are unchanged.